Comments on: Shadow inventory leaves brokers in the dark

By: Foreclosure prevention money adding to the shadow inventory « Daily Journal of Commerce – Building and Construction News in Portland, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:34:15 +0000

[…] wrote a story in early June about shadow inventory in Portland. Basically, shadow inventory is any home that hasn’t been foreclosed on yet, or is stuck in […]

By: j

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:06:45 +0000

As a potential buyer that was forced out of the market until recently, I’m loving such market trends. I’ve seen housing prices drop dramatically since the tax credit expired, and feel sorry for those who rushed to get the eight thousand dollar “buy off”. With patience, I feel that I’ll be able to buy a home currently listed at $200K for around $170k, albeit in several months. Unfortunately, I’m not the only one who noticed, and the market will falter and sputter for the next year as we continue to wait for better and better opportunites as the market gets increasingly desperate.

By: Marshall Houston

Marshall Houston — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:43:59 +0000

... At large lending institutions, for example, a single foreclosure can take 18 to 24 months, she said..... The biggest banks became the only business entities that could afford the large specialized staffs and legal teams for the creation of CDOs, CMOs, etc. which helped to create the bubble mess in the first place. Now we have the curse of trying to unwind these imense securities. I have been looking into this...the big banks may take longer to process their foreclosures due to the complexities of mortgage "securitization". It may take a considerable time to disentangle the individual mortgages from their bundles. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-mortgage-servicing-company.htm So the long drawn out process of slowly releasing foreclosed properties onto the market is likely not deliberate.

By: Bad Man

Bad Man — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:46:19 +0000

Just one more example why buying a home in the Portland area becomes more of a crapshoot by the day. Combined with the area’s chronic unemployment and growing number of unemployed losers, don’t expect a turnaround anytime soon in real estate prices. Hope you diodn’t buy one of those 50+ year old dumps in SE Portland in 2004 or later. You will be underwater for years in your leaking old dump.

By: Cindy B.

Cindy B. — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:04:11 +0000

Are banks required to use the services of a real estate agent in order to sell the foreclosed properties? I realize times have changed, I have purchased foreclosure properties twice without the benefit/expense of a real estate agent.

By: Old Town

Old Town — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:23:37 +0000

Excellent piece.

“It’s not as much strategy as it is process,” Shand said. “The foreclosure process is tedious, and both lenders and agents are still learning how to deal with them.”

Whether it is part of the banks’ strategy to release properties to the market considering the effect of that release on the market or whether it is just part of the foreclosure process – the result is the same, i.e., property values are becoming more aligned with value.

But, surely the banks consider the market before releasing their foreclosures. To dump all of the foreclosed properties into the marketplace without concern of the effect makes little sense. They are already taking a hit with the foreclosure – why take actions that would necessarily reduce their market value?

A Perspective